A stable algorithm for divergence-free radial basis functions in the flat limit

01/13/2020

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by   Kathryn P. Drake, et al.

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The direct method used for calculating smooth radial basis function (RBF) interpolants in the flat limit becomes numerically unstable. The RBF-QR algorithm bypasses this ill-conditioning using a clever change of basis technique. We extend this method for computing interpolants involving matrix-valued kernels, specifically surface divergence-free RBFs on the sphere, in the flat limit. Results illustrating the effectiveness of this algorithm are presented for a divergence-free vector field on the sphere from samples at scattered points.